imposed by the unitary cuisine, the home-life of the Jansonists differed in nowise materially from that of their neighbors under the individualistic system. But a change also in this respect was impending.

Of the twelve apostles appointed by Eric Janson to convert the world, Nils Heden alone had met with any degree of success. Besides making a number of converts, he visited several of the principal religious communistic settlements in the United States. From Hopedale, N. Y., he persuaded twenty-five or thirty persons to join the Bishop Hill Colony. He also established friendly relations with the Oneida Perfectionists of New York and the Rappists of Pennsylvania. In 1854 he made a journey to Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, which was destined to have important consequences.

The Shakers taught the Jansonists the advantages of raising small fruit, and instructed them in improved methods of dyeing wool. From Pleasant Hill also the Jansonists got improved breeds of cattle. A number of the Jansonists accepted Shakerism and went to live at Pleasant Hill, among them being the widow of Eric Janson.

On his visit in 1854, Nils Heden allowed himself to be converted to the doctrine of celibacy. Returning to Bishop Hill he won the support of Jonas Olson, who straightway - proceeded to ingraft the new doctrine upon the Jansonist creed. The practice of celibacy was somewhat difficult of enforcement. Some of the members of the community objected strenuously, but they were dealt with according to article 3 of the by-laws, which provided that any person guilty of preaching and disseminating religious doctrines contrary to those of the Bible might be expelled. Thus, after a number of voluntary resignations and forcible expulsions, the opposition was broken and submission secured.

After the introduction of celibacy the families continued to live together as heretofore, only that married persons were enjoined to practice restraint in the conjugal relations, and new marriages were, of course, prohibited. Under such

circumstances celibacy could not be strictly enforced, and remained a constant source of irritation, becoming eventually a potent factor in hastening the dissolution of the community. The Jansonists placed great value upon elementary education. Ever since the winter of 1847-8 the community had kept an English day-school, employing usually a native American as principal, and appointing one or more of its own members as assistant teachers. At one time, as stated above, the society was joined by a number of American communistic families from Hopedale, N. Y., among whom were several persons competent to teach. These families did not remain long, however, and the society was again compelled to resort to outside help.

At first the school was conducted in mud-caves or any vacant room, but later a fine brick school-house, with accommodations for several hundred pupils, was erected. The average attendance was about one hundred, the school age being limited to fourteen years. The number of school months in the year was six. Swedish was not taught in the school, and the only knowledge which the children obtained of the language was through their parents. On the whole, the Jansonists evinced a commendable zeal in acquiring and adopting the language and customs of the country. Thus, for instance, the records of the Bishop Hill Colony were kept in the English as well as in the Swedish language.

When the school days were over there were no means of continuing the studies. With the exception of the Bible, theJansonists had destroyed all their books before leaving Sweden. Newspapers were not allowed. So there was no reading matter to be had except the Bible, the Jansonist hymn-book and catechism, and the well-worn school-books. Individuals sometimes happened upon other reading matter. Strangers stopping at the hotel occasionally left newspapers and books, which were surreptitiously circulated among the youthful members of the community. Among those who in this manner kept alive their appetite for knowledge were men since famous in letters and politics.

The church organization was loose. There was no regularly ordained clergy. Any one with the gift of expression might preach. But the general management of ecclesiastical affairs was intrusted to Jonas Olson, assisted by Olof Stenberg, Andreas Berglund, Nils Heden and Olof Aasberg. Under - Jonas Olson's leadership the religious tendency was, in some respects, one of conservative retrogression. He modified. some of the excesses of the Jansonist theology in a Devotionalistic direction, abolishing the Jansonist catechism altogether and thoroughly revising the hymn-book in 1857.

Thus, it will be seen, community life at Bishop Hill had its lights and its shadows. Which predominated it is impossible at this distance to say. In order to judge correctly, one must be able to comprehend the dominant motives of action. - These were of a religious nature. They decided the complexion of the social and economic life. But they did not - determine the intrinsic merits or demerits of the communistic - system. All reasonable material wants, at any rate, were - abundantly satisfied. No one was obliged to overtax his strength. Each one was put to the work for which he was best adapted. The aged and the infirm were cared for. The children were educated. Everybody was Everybody was secure in the knowledge that, whatever befall, his subsistence was a certainty. On the whole, the members of the community enjoyed a greater amount of comfort and security against want than the struggling pioneer settlers by whom they were surrounded.

VII. DISASTROUS FINANCIAL SPECULATIONS, INTERNAL DISSENSIONS, AND DISSOLUTION OF THE SOCIETY.

One of the grandest elements in the early development of the State of Illinois was the Illinois and Michigan Canal, connecting the Illinois and Mississippi rivers with the Great Lakes. The canal was recommended by Governor Bond in his first message to the State Legislature. In 1821 an

appropriation of ten thousand dollars was made for the purpose of surveying the route. The estimated cost of the canal was from $600,000 to $700,000. The actual cost was

$8,000,000.

Pending the construction of the canal, speculation in land broke out in 1834 and 1835. From Chicago the disease spread over the State. In 1834 and 1837 it seized upon the State Legislature, which forthwith enacted a system of internal improvements without parallel in grandeur of conception. It ordered the construction of 1300 miles of railway, although the population of the State was not 400,000. The railroad projects were surpassed by the schemes for the building of canals and the improvement of rivers. There were few counties that were not touched by railroad, river or canal, and those that were not were to be compensated by the free distribution among them of $200,000. The work was to commence simultaneously upon all river crossings, and at both ends of all railroads and rivers. The appropriations were $12,000,000, commissioners being appointed to borrow money on the credit of the State.

About this time the State Bank was loaning its funds freely to Godfrey, Gilman & Co., and other houses, for the purpose of diverting trade from St. Louis to Alton. These houses failed and took down the bank with them. In 1840 the State was loaded with a debt of $14,000,000. There was not a dollar in the treasury, credit was gone, and the good money in circulation was not sufficient to pay the interest for a single year.

But in 1848 the Illinois and Michigan Canal was finally completed, and began turning into the treasury an annual net sum of $111,000. The industries of the State revived, and the projects for the internal development of the country were again brought forward, with the difference, however, that they were now supported by private instead of public / enterprise.

In 1854 the managers of the Chicago, Burlington and

Quincy Railroad proposed to run their line into Bishop Hill. But the Jansonists, apprehensive of the probable effects of the -intrusion, objected, and the railroad instead went through Galva, five miles distant. This did not prevent the Jansonists from entering upon a $37,000 contract with the company to grade a portion of the roadbed.

The manner in which Galva was founded is so illustrative of the origin of most Western towns and of the practices of railway corporations in general, that the following quotation from Kett's History of Henry County is inserted in full: "The idea of building a town upon this site was first entertained in 1853. While Messrs. J. M. & Wm. L. Wiley were traveling from Peoria County to Rock Island in the spring of that year, they were attracted by the beauty of the surrounding country, and halted their team on the ground that now forms College Park, across which the old trail led. Standing in their buggy and looking out upon the scene, one of them remarked to the other, 'Let us buy the land and lay out a town!' At this time there were only two or three buildings to be seen from that point, and the country around was one vast sea of prairie, over which the deer were still roaming at will. The land was shortly purchased by them, and after negotiating with the C. B. & Q. Railroad Company a full year, they finally secured the location of a depot upon their purchase by donating the land now owned and occupied by the company in the center of the town. In the fall of the year succeeding its purchase (1854), and about the time that the arrangement with the railroad company was effected, the town was laid out in its present shape by the gentlemen mentioned. The cars commenced running in December of the same year.

On account of its location on the railroad, Galva could not fail to become an object of interest to the Bishop Hill Colony. The community purchased fifty town lots, and lent its money

1

History of Henry County, published by II. J. Kett & Co., Chicago, pp. 168-9.